By Elayne Savage, PhD
© Can Stock Photo / radiantskies
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I was reading up on auditory processing disorder while I was working with a client who needed closed captioning and transcribing accommodations in her college classes.
OMG -- I found myself reading about ME!
These APD articles totally helped me identify and understand my own limited ability to process verbal information.
It always seemed like there was a space between hearing the words and my brain actually being able to process the words I had just heard. I often found that words were running together and garbled – especially if the person was talking fast. And I was always de-coding.
Before this discovery, I had learned from my neuropsychologist that tests showed I had ADHD (you may have seen my recent blog about this: New Kid On the Block – Intention Deficit Disorder.)
We figure I’ve been dealing with both the ADHD and Auditory Processing for much of my life along with my hearing impairment.
My audiologist says that most folks with hearing loss also have some difficulty with auditory processing and that it tends to show up even more as we age.
And yet, I think I’ve been functioning pretty OK over the last 30 years as a psychotherapist, professional speaker, author and blogger.
Actually, my two recent concussions are causing more challenges than any of this other stuff.
Sometimes I pause a bit before answering a question, or have to ask for it to be repeated, or stumble over words, or can’t quite get to the word I want to use.
With all the negative attention to Senate candidate John Fetterman’s difficulty with auditory processing from his recent stroke, it gets me wondering if some folks have had negative thoughts about my workshops, interviews, workplace coaching or therapy sessions. Yes, I guess was sometimes on the verge of taking it personally and feeling rejected.
Have they secretly been making fun of me the way some folks do about John Fetterman’s speech? I’m aware that my ability to think and write are not at all affected but I now I’m wondering what others have been thinking about my brain.
I couldn’t be without closed captioning to watch TV and some movies. I loved the idea that John Fetterman used it in his recent TV debate. Sure wish I had thought of using captioning in other venues to help me out. But then maybe folks would have made fun of me for doing that.
Because of the attention to Lt. Gov. Fetterman’s speech difficulties, there have been some wonderfully informative articles about auditory processing and I’m sharing them with you below.
You may even recognize yourself or someone you care about as you read.
Here are some highlights from that very first piece I was reading when I first realized APD is Me.
From Andrea’s Blog: https://qw88nb88.wordpress.com/living-with-auditory-processing-disorder/
– The ears take in everything, but the brain has trouble sorting it out.
– It’s like having poor cell phone reception, where the signal gets static or drops out.
– Difficulty discriminating between a voice and the background noises.
– Difficulty understanding people when more than one person is speaking.
– Having to rely on context to puzzle out what people are saying.
– I have always misunderstood musical lyrics (and creatively concocted my own); I can never repeat a conversation verbatim that lasts longer than a few seconds.
– Verbal directions are hard to keep straight – writing them down helps a lot.
– All my life my teachers and parents have complained I didn’t pay attention: “What’s wrong with you” “Why aren’t you listening to me?“
Tips for coping from Andrea and Her Blog Readers:
– Asking people to face you.
– Sitting closer to a speaker whenever possible, saying I have trouble hearing.
– Looking at people’s lips when they talk.
– Writing down lists of things I’m asked to do. Otherwise, I forget what I hear.
– Repeating back what I hear, in a different way if possible. This is for two reasons. One, I often hear the wrong thing and put together the wrong instruction set. The second reason is because even if I hear the right thing, I often misunderstand the meaning or miss specific, clarifying words.
– Asking people to move to a quieter place to talk. Usually all this takes is simply moving myself to a little corner. Speakers will follow without a word because it’s natural to want to be closer when talking to someone.
– When appropriate, allowing the use of an assistive listening device (ALD). It consists of a receiver with headphones for myself, and a wireless mike for the speaker. This allows the information to transmit directly through the headphones while eliminating most extraneous noises.
– I often email people with the information I understand, and ask them to verify (in writing and by responding, so I have the original with their response).
– I find it helpful to take literate notes because it keeps me involved in the meeting, so I become the unofficial note taker.
– Telling people to do what I need them to do so I can understand. I never had the confidence to that before that past several years. I just thought I was stupid and should be able to keep up by now.
Sharing John Fetterman's Challenges
So in many ways John Fetterman and I have some of the same challenges. The major difference is that I have been living with mine for many years and my APD will not get better. Because his APD resulted from a stroke, his brain will continue to rebuild and his speech will continue to improve.
And again, here is the link to this really helpful and very long blog by Andrea: https://qw88nb88.wordpress.com/living-with-auditory-processing-disorder/
One of my favorite ADHD sites is www.AdditudeMag.com and offers these takes on Auditory Processing Disorder plus some self-testing. And by the way, October has been ADHD Month!
"Auditory processing disorder (APD) occurs when the ears and brain are not in sync. This disconnect can cause challenges with differentiating similar sounds.
This disconnect can cause a range of challenges – struggles with auditory discrimination, with listening in noisy environments, with remembering what you’ve heard, and with recalling the sequence of words spoken – that may resemble (and co-occur with) other conditions.
APD may interfere with learning, however it is not correlated with intelligence. It may cause communication difficulties, but it does not show up in traditional auditory tests for hearing loss."
Jill Bolte Taylor’s Personal Experience with a Stroke and Auditory Processing
Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroscientist,had a stroke 26 years ago. Her descriptions of her experience and recovery are fascinating:
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